Huntington Beach riot price tag: $30,800

HUNTINGTON BEACH – The city spent about $30,800 to deal with the riots that broke out after the Vans US Open of Surfing, officials reported Thursday.

Thousands of people descended on Main Street after the close of the world-famous surfing competition on July 28, tipping portable toilets, fighting in the street, damaging city vehicles, setting fires, and vandalizing and burglarizing a local business.

City crews worked into the early morning hours the next day to clean up the mess and several employees had to log overtime to handle the extensive work, officials said.

The bulk of the city's cost was police overtime hours at $17,000, and there was an additional $3,300 in labor costs.

Huntington Beach did not have to pay for the assistance it received from the 21 other law enforcement agencies that sent out 148 officers to aid police.

The damage to public works vehicles tallied up to $6,100 and there was $3,800 in equipment use costs, officials said.

The city also spent $600 to replace the stop sign that was ripped from the ground and smashed through the window at Easyrider bike shop on Main Street.

City officials said there have been no discussions about asking event producer IMG to pick up the tab, though some in the community have questioned whether its contract with the city would hold IMG responsible.

The contract says IMG is accountable only for event-related costs and the incident occurred after hours and outside the venue, officials said.

"Nothing in this agreement relates to the incident that happened," said James Leitz, senior vice president of IMG. "We feel terrible about what happened in town. We're disappointed, embarrassed and disgusted."

IMG's contract with the city required the company to pay a little more than $216,000 before the nine-day event to cover expenses associated with police and fire coverage, an application and permit fee, code enforcement and beach maintenance.

It also says the event producer is responsible for event-related police, fire and cleanup costs, including outside the venue on Main Street.

City officials will be working with residents, business owners and IMG to determine what changes should be made next year to ensure another incident doesn't occur.

Some residents have said scaling back the event or nixing all nonsurfing features might be a good first step toward deterring massive crowds and putting the focus back on surfing.